LeBron James is considered a once-in-a-generation talent, a transcendent player with the ability to cause seismic shifts in the way basketball is played.

In an era ruled by advanced statistics, the common approach is to use numbers as the main determinant of greatness. With stats as the bar, James is on pace to become the greatest player the NBA has ever seen.

He has reached milestones faster and at a younger age than most players before him. That continued in the Miami Heat’s 92-75 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, when James, at 28 years, 17 days, became the youngest player to reach 20,000 career points. He also passed the 5,000-assist threshold.

This is nothing new to James, who entered the NBA fresh out of high school in 2003. He is the youngest player to have reached 1,000 and 10,000 points as well. He sits among Hall of Famers as a select few players to record 20,000 points, 5,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists.

But as is often the case, data can only tell so much of the story. A player of James’ ilk should be assessed as much on intangibles as he should measurables. Without proper context, his remarkable versatility can become lost.

Records can’t define James, nor can positions. He has blended the skills of a guard with those of a forward—or center, for that matter—to reach rare heights. Along the way, he’s created moments that will remain far more memorable than the midrange jump shot he hit over Golden State’s David Lee in the second quarter to pass the 20,000 mark.

Case in point: During the Miami Heat’s last two bids for an NBA championship, the 6-foot-8 James has taken on defensive assignments ranging from 6-foot-3 Derrick Rose to 6-foot-9 Kevin Durant. On a team playing small because of his prodigious talent, he’s rebounded at the rate of a center, but he also has brought the ball upcourt himself and attacked the defense off the dribble.

James has always done what was necessary to affect games. On Monday, in the Heat’s 104-97 loss to the Utah Jazz, James used defense in the paint on center Al Jefferson to spearhead a last-ditch rally.

At 6-foot-10, Jefferson is a true big man in a shrinking league that lends itself to James’ ability to play all five positions. Still, James was there, fronting the post and changing the course of a game in a remarkable way that appeared ordinary to the naked eye.

A night later, James decided to provide scoring punch. He had 18 points in the first half (which put him at 20,001) and finished with 25 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. The exact stat line will be forgotten by the time the Heat take the court Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Now that he has reached 20,000 points, James will be placed aside career scoring leaders and assessed on criteria that don’t work in his favor.

James will not score 100 points in a game like Wilt Chamberlain, or average more than 30 points per game for his career like Michael Jordan. What James will do is find an open teammate in the corner for a pivotal shot, or defend the other team’s best player in a make-or-break moment. That versatility and skill is what should define James.